Child's play – How to play with your baby from 7-9 months

Brooke Tasovac

Your baby is integrating everything she has learned so far by seven to nine months of age. Motor and visual skills are more in tune with one another, as seen in your baby's capacity to manipulate things using her hands and better hand to eye coordination.

- Give your baby a few sealed containers filled with different items (rice, coins, rocks) and let her shake them and bang them together. Also show her how to make noises with other things that provide a wide range of variations in pitch, such as a bell, a whistle, keys on a ring or a music box.

- As babies become more aware of cause and effect, any items that light up, move, make noise or turn on and off, will be of interest, including mobile phones, TV remotes and light switches so try and find toys with lots of buttons (such a baby entertainment board) to help satisfy these urges.

- Your baby will extend this knowledge of cause and effect to the use of her own body parts and how to use her arms and legs to her advantage as she begins to crawl and pull herself into a standing position. Point and tell your baby the names of her body parts and engage her in games that are full of motion and predictability such as pat-a-cake.

- Once your baby can sit unsupported and have a bath in the family bathtub, bath games are a great way to get your baby to love bath time and playing with water boosts a seven to nine month old baby's sensory range with regards to texture and temperature. Additionally, blowing bubbles with your baby in the bath or in the garden (especially on a breezy day) is bound to create fascination and giggles.

- Your baby's comprehension of object permanence and the ability to seek out hidden objects is a good reason to play games centred around placing toys under covers or in different rooms where your baby needs to move around to locate them.

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